Operation: Seduce Spinelli
by Animegirl1129
Summary: Jason has had enough of Maxie’s ridiculous plan and calls her on her insanity. She, in turn, has a new plan: “We’ll have tests. Keep score. Whoever wins, gets Spinelli.” Jaspin, Spixie
1. Prologue

Operation: Seduce Spinelli

**_Started writing this a while ago. It's almost finished, but not quite. Much thanks, as always, to suerum. Characters aren't mine. Enjoy!_**

* * *

Jason Morgan had already had one hell of a bad day. Franco had made another attempt at his mental warfare, which had been fun, and an exercise in self-control. Spinelli had been no help at all as of late, dealing with Maxie's demands that he cheat on her before they could get back together. And Sam, he growled, Sam had ditched him. She'd run off to Panama to help out an old friend with something. Alone, she'd stressed, just before she told him not to attempt to contact her and no, she didn't know when she would be back, but it'd be a while.

So, with the three main stressors in his life at the moment coming together to aggravate him, his reaction upon seeing Maxie sitting on the sofa in the Penthouse was maybe a little harsh, but he didn't really care. It was, after all, entirely her fault that Spinelli was on the list of things that were conspiring against him.

"What do you want?" He snapped, heading straight to the kitchen for a beer.

She seemed unfazed by his apparent displeasure, following after him. "I need you to talk to Spinelli for me. He won't hold up his end of our deal."

His stone cold eyes narrowed. "You mean the deal where he has to cheat on you before you'll take him back?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, that deal."

"No, I won't talk to him about that." He countered. It was the most ludicrous sounding plan in the history of plans. She should be the one working for forgiveness – that she didn't deserve, he might add, but try telling Spinelli that – not the one offering ultimatums.

She folded her arms over her chest, glaring intently at him. It was similarly unintimidating. "And why not?"

Jason blinked. She was kidding, he hoped. "You have met Spinelli, right? He doesn't want to cheat on you. Never would. Just because you're all ready to self-destruct doesn't mean you have to force him into something he doesn't want."

"It's the only thing that's fair, Jason." Maxie responded. "I cheated on him, now he has to cheat on me. Maybe if I get a taste of my own medicine, I'll…"

"So, this isn't even about Spinelli? It's all about you. You're going to make him do something entirely against what he believes in so that you can feel better about cheating on him? Again?" He downed about half of his drink – dealing with her insanity was rapidly tearing at his already thin patience. "Want a piece of advice? The eye for an eye thing? Never actually accomplishes anything."

She frowned. "Well, I suppose you would know that, Mr. Professional Hitman. But, I don't care. He can't just forgive me, it's not enough."

An idea, about as insane as Maxie was at the moment, came to Jason's mind. Maybe it would shock her back into reality. He set his drink down, folded his own arms over his chest and glared back at her for a moment. "You know what? Fine. I'll do it."

"Fine? You'll talk to him?"

"No." He repeated. "I'll sleep with him. Will that meet your deranged requirements?"

It has the desired effect. She freezes, eyes wide and mouth agape. "I beg your pardon? I'm certain I didn't hear you right. It sounded like you just said that you would sleep with him."

That had been what he'd hoped for. Maybe with this threat, she'd see the error of her ways and just accept that the Saintly Spinelli was going to forgive her so long as she called off this ridiculous plan. "Yeah, there a problem with that?"

"I'm surprised, is all. Never suspected you swung that way. You? Big, bad Jason Morgan? Stone Cold Killer?" She teased, rather bravely in the face of the biggest mobster in town. "And besides, that won't work, anyway. I told him he had to cheat on me with a stranger – which you are not. That'd be all I need – for you to steal him from me when you're already the only one he'll ditch me for."

"You cheated on him with a psychopath whose probably killed people and you get to be nitpicky about who he cheats on you with? You'd prefer a stranger off the street as opposed to someone he trusts?"

Maxie scoffed. "If that someone is you? Yes, definitely. Spinelli's mine and you're really the only person who doesn't seem to understand that."

At first, he'd solely been trying to get Maxie to understand what she was asking, but now… She'd adequately corralled his bad mood into a solid purpose. He'd get Spinelli to realize how wrong she was for him. He rolled his eyes, shook his head. "Maybe because he's not your property?"

"Well, he's certainly not yours, even though that's what you treat him like." She continued to unknowingly bait him, making him more and more intent on his goal. "I bet he wouldn't sleep with you anyway, even if that were the deal."

Okay, this was getting out of hand. He downed the rest of his drink, grabbed another, and headed back out to the living room. She followed. "You don't deserve to have someone like Spinelli. You just use him and I'm not going to let you destroy him, too."

"'You're not going to let me'? You think you can keep him away from me or something, Jason? Hate to break it to you, but even after what I did, he still loves me." She tossed back at him, looking several kinds of incredulous and annoyed. "Okay, fine, then. Let's see who he cares about more."

"What are you talking about?"

A hand landed on her hip, and she bit her lip in thought. "We'll have tests. Keep score. Whoever wins – gets Spinelli."

Jason shook his head, actually laughed at the absurdity of her apparent loss of touch with reality. "You really are insane."

"No, listen to me. If you win, I'll dump Spinelli, I'll back off and he'll be all yours. If I win, Spinelli moves out of the Penthouse and out from under your mob rules, and he's all mine." She challenged, nodding along as if congratulating herself on what a genius idea she'd come up with.

Tempting. He could get her away from Spinelli if he agreed to and won this absurd competition. Certainly an appealing thought. But he didn't want to sink to her level of manipulation, either. "Why would I agree to that?"

She smirked. "You mean you don't think you can win against me, Jason?"

"…What kind of tests?" It wasn't her words that had spurred him into agreeing. It was her attitude. She was willing to turn all of this into a game in which she could win or lose Spinelli. He just wasn't going to stand for that.

"Eh, we'll work the details out later." Maxie said, glancing at the clock. "Spinelli should be back soon and we don't need him hearing any of this, do we?"

That was a given. Chances were, if Spinelli found out about this, they'd both lose him.

"Are you in?"

He nodded. "Yeah." Wondering what he had gotten himself into, but in. "Call me later about your insane plans."

The front door opened then, marking Spinelli's arrival. "Greetings Maximista, Stone Cold." He grinned, raising a hand in salutation as he pulled his messenger bag from his shoulder. "The Jackal was not intruding, was he?" Jason looked marginally irritated and Maxie seemed as if she was similarly annoyed.

"Nope, Maxie was just leaving, right?"

The blonde glared, but nodded. "Right."

The war was on.


	2. Challenge 1

Operation: Seduce Spinelli

**_Started writing this a while ago. It's almost finished, but not quite. Much thanks, as always, to suerum. Sorry this chapter is so short, next one is longer! Characters aren't mine. Enjoy!_**

* * *

Jason woke at three a.m. to the sound of the cell phone sitting on his bedside table receiving a text message. Very few people would dare to disturb him so late, and ever then it would have to be some sort of dire emergency to warrant it. So, with that in mind, he picked up his phone, typing blindly at the display until it beeped in protest.

'Thought of first test. – M.' It read simply.

She was actually serious about this, he realized. It had been two days since they'd had the initial conversation and he had been hoping that she'd just let the whole thing go. No such luck though, it seemed.

Climbing out of bed now, because this – as much as might have wanted it to – wasn't just going to go away, he eased open his bedroom door and peered down the hall toward the pink room. Dark, as was downstairs. Safe to talk then.

He slipped back into his room and called Maxie back instead of texting. "You actually want to go through with this?"

"Well, if you bail on me, I guess I'll just go and find a stranger off the street willing to jump Spinelli." She threatened, sounding not all at tired and not at all like she was joking.

"What's your test?"

***

The first challenge that Maxie had come up with seemed straightforward enough. Really.

The plan was simple. They'd both call on Spinelli's aid at the same time. Whoever he opted to aid would win this round. Jason didn't like the idea of any of this one bit, but he wouldn't let Maxie manipulate Spinelli into sleeping with some stranger, either.

They were both supposed to put in their calls around noon. Jason stayed at the Penthouse, while Maxie opted to go out.

Maxie's call reached its target first. "Spinelli?" She said, sounding desperate and needy as she leaned against her car halfway to New York City. "Oh, I'm so glad I caught you! I was driving into the city to meet with one of Kate's clients and my car broke down. Would you mind coming out to help me?" Even though Spinelli couldn't see her through the phone, she batted her eyelashes and pouted all the same.

"I, ugh, of course, Maximista, the Jackal will make haste in aiding you with your automotive issues." Came Spinelli's voice in response to her pleading. She'd won, she knew.

Jason called just a few moments later. "Hey, Spinelli." He started, looking over the files he'd been given early this morning by a source in Paris. "We've got some new intel on Franco – I could really use your help with tracking his movements back at the Penthouse." He wasn't lying, either. There had been new information uncovered concerning Franco's past – some suspicious dealings that were likely to cement his status as a serial killer, in fact.

Spinelli, who had been standing in line at Kelly's, frowned. He had already promised Maximista that he would be by to help her, but his Stone Cold mentor was calling on him for a potential lead into Franco's activities. "Of course, Stone Cold. The Jackal just has to make one phone call and then he will be on his way back home."

***

Maxie grinned as the car approached. Whatever lie Jason had spun about what he needed Spinelli for had clearly fallen short of her most dire plight. He was here, helping her. She'd won this round.

Or so she'd thought.

It wasn't Spinelli who climbed out of the driver's seat, but Milo. With orders from Spinelli to offer a whole-hearted apology on his behalf for his flakiness and to inform her that something of great import had come up with Stone Cold and he'd had to go. Milo drove her into the city to her meeting and waited for her to exit before driving her back to Port Charles. She'd requested to be dropped off at the Penthouse.

Jason and Spinelli were seated side by side on the sofa, laptop open and running on the coffee table with orange soda and barbecue chips within reach when she'd arrived. "Your sources were correct, Stone Cold." She heard Spinelli tell Jason. "The three bodies can indeed be irrevocably linked with… Maximista?" His attention averted, he closed the laptop quickly, before she could see the rather decidedly gruesome crime scene photos from other cities that Franco had visited. All posed not unlike she had been.

Jason shrugged. He'd won this round. He and Maxie both knew it. "Go on, Spinelli. Thanks for your help."

"Not a problem, Stone Cold. The Jackal is just glad we've made some headway into figuring out this beguiling web of mystery." He answered, gathering up his stuff. "Was your trip to New York pleasant, Maximista?"

"It was fine." She answered, with a glare tossed over her shoulder at Jason.


	3. Challenge 2

Operation: Seduce Spinelli

**_Started writing this a while ago. It's almost finished, but not quite. Much thanks, as always, to suerum. Characters aren't mine. Enjoy!_**

* * *

The next text message came at close to five a.m. the following night. He growled into the interrupted silence of his room and contemplated simply tossing the device at the wall. Still though, how hard could this be?

'Round 1 may have gone to you, Round 2 will be mine. Call. – M.' It said. So he did.

"Can't you call at normal hours?" He pressed, not even getting out of bed this time. "Or is turning me into a sleep-deprived zombie part of your plan?"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic. I can't call if Spinelli might be around you. Duh." He could practically hear her rolling her eyes at him. "So, I thought up the next challenge."

"I figured as much." Jason grumbled, an arm tossed over his eyes. "What insane plan do you have this time?"

"Dinner." She said simply, as if that would explain everything. "We each get a night. I get to go first, of course. Whichever one of us impresses him the most wins. No interruptions from the other player."

With a resigned sigh, he agreed to her conditions, though no promises could be made about the no interruption aspect with Franco still on the loose. "Deal."

"Glad we could reach an agreement."

***

"Where are we going, Maximista?" Spinelli asked, for what was not the first time. She'd dragged him out of the Penthouse, taken him to some extravagant store and had him dressed in rather pricey designer attire, she was also dressed more fittingly for a fashion runway than for the dinner she had proposed. They'd headed into New York City, somewhere on the Upper East Side, if he had his bearings correct. They stopped at a high class hotel, the kind of place that had to be booked months in advance – a restaurant was perched on the top floor.

"I pulled some strings with the magazine to get us in here tonight," She explained as she wound her arm around his.

"Ah, Ms. Jones," A man at the front desk greeted, offering a smile. "Good to see you could make it."

Maxie smiled back, and the man led them into the depths of the very crowded main room – something like 30 stories above the street. They were settled near a window, at a table for two. Wine was brought out just seconds later and Spinelli was feeling decidedly overwhelmed by the whole experience.

"Is…" Spinelli stammered, looking anywhere but out the window. "Is there an occasion for this extravagant adventure?" He asked, tugging at the sleeves of the designer grey pinstripe button down she'd chosen for him. The designer was no doubt affiliated with Crimson.

She grinned, adjusting her own attire – a backless black dress with a plunging neckline that suitably distracted him from his current distaste for heights. "No, not really. I just thought you might enjoy a night away from Port Charles."

He nodded, sipped at the wine they'd been given slowly. "Indeed. It is… most enjoyable."

The waiter arrived before Maxie could reply to his comment, and they'd ordered quickly after glancing at the menu.

"That can't be Maxie Jones." An unfamiliar voice said, just moments later. A well-dressed gentleman approached their table, about the same age as he and Maxie. He took Maxie's hand, kissed it, and grinned like a fool. Spinelli was ignored completely. "To what does this fine establishment owe the pleasure of your presence?"

"I'm here with my boyfriend." She answered, gesturing to Spinelli, but skipped the introduction part. "And you?"

"Oh, my parents dragged me out here to celebrate my graduation from Princeton." He said, as if that were an everyday occurrence. "No big deal."

But Maxie had been suitably hooked and spent several moments questioning the man about his accomplishments. She finished by promising him a spot in the next issue of Crimson, if he so desired it.

Spinelli watched the entire exchange sadly. Was this the sort of thing that led up to her interactions with Franco? He had to wonder. He had said he'd forgive her, and she had seemed to have dropped her ridiculous idea about cheating on her, but, still.

It was only when their food arrived that the man – still nameless to Spinelli – excused himself.

"Sorry about that. I'd been trying to get an appointment with him for weeks now, and to run into him here was just such a surprise…" She said, making yet more excuses for her actions.

He nodded, even though he was hurt. "Indeed, Maximista, I understand."

She smiled. "I'll make it up to you, Spinelli. What do you say we get a room downstairs once we're finished here?"

***

"Where were you?" Jason demanded, when the blonde answered the phone late the next morning. He'd waited up all night for Spinelli's return, but he'd never shown. It wasn't until nearly nine that he had, looking thoroughly exhausted. Jason had easily guessed what had occurred. He'd gotten a quick summary concerning dinner, as well. "The agreement was dinner, not dinner and a hotel."

"Ah, but all I said was dinner, I made no rules about what happened afterward."

He rolled his eyes, listened closely for the sounds that told him Spinelli was still safely out of hearing range and in the shower. "You did say no alcohol, under some sort of delusion that I would stoop to getting Spinelli drunk and jump him or something." He couldn't believe that he was actually taking this seriously. "You broke the rules."

"It was a fancy restaurant, Jason, what were we supposed to drink? Orange soda?" She snapped back at him. She had forgotten about that when they'd arrived.

"You broke the rule." He said again. "Either you lose points or we get alcohol tonight, too."

He could hear her scoffing in incredulity at being called out on it. "Fine. Drink all you want."

"Glad we could reach an agreement." He said, echoing the words she'd used against him when this stage of the insanity had begun.

***

Spinelli was passed out in his room – yet another downside of Maxie's add on to the plan – and Jason felt bad about waking him up, but he had to verify that Spinelli would even be interested in his half of the plan.

"Hey, Spin," He said, leaning casually against the doorframe.

Slowly, the younger blinked himself back to consciousness. "Mm, Stone Cold?" He asked, hands moving to rub sleepily at his eyes. "Is there more trouble with Franco?" If so, he would have expected a much hastier awakening, but he certainly wasn't going to complain.

Jason shook his head. "No." He sighed. "I was just wondering – As kind of a thank you for helping me out with all this Franco stuff – especially now that Sam's gone and disappeared – I thought you might want to stay in tonight. I'll cook or something."

Spinelli frowned in something like confusion. In all the years he'd stayed at Casa de Stone Cold, Jason had never made him such an offer. He certainly wasn't going to turn it down, and he didn't have any other plans anyway. "Most assuredly."

"Go back to sleep, I'll wake you up when it's ready." He said, ducking out of the room before Spinelli could agree or disagree.

Luckily, since he'd had all day yesterday to prepare for this, he already had all the stuff he'd need to cook, so he didn't have to go out. He set to work in the kitchen, glad that he'd opted for some simple Italian food as opposed to the extravagantly named Moroccan cuisine Spinelli had had last night.

It took him little more than an hour to finish cooking and the sparse set up. It wasn't like he was going to deck out the penthouse in rose petals or anything – that would only serve to confuse Spinelli beyond all get out – but he tidied up and tossed a simple tablecloth over the table, adding only the required utensils, napkins and such. He grabbed an orange soda – foregoing the now allowed alcohol for Spinelli - and a beer for himself from the fridge, set them down as well.

Fetching Spinelli proved to be an easy enough task, too. He'd either stayed awake or woken up since earlier. Clad in jeans and a simple t-shirt, he looked infinitely more comfortable than he had in the designer things he'd come home in.

"Food's ready." He said simply, and followed Spinelli back downstairs and into the kitchen.

Spinelli froze in surprise at the simple display. And the rather appealing scents emitting from the room. "This is quite the impressive set-up." After last night's overwhelming experience, this was a nice change. Simple and not over the top. He claimed the seat marked by orange soda just as Jason set simple salads down on the table.

Jason took his own seat and they began their nice meal in silence.

For a while at least. "So, the place you and Maxie went to last night? It was nice?"

Spinelli nodded. "Indeed, it was… very extravagant. And also very high up. Not exactly the Ace of Cyberspace's preference, but Maximista seemed to enjoy it."

"And did you?" He pressed. It figured that Maxie would try for something over the top. She hadn't factored in Spinelli terribly well. Big crowds, big place, lots of people Spinelli didn't fit in with.

He seemed to consider that question for a moment as he finished off the last of his salad. "… Not, not particularly, I would be compelled to say. Especially with the Unidentified One's presence there, as well."

"The Unidentified One?" Jason inquired, getting up to switch out the empty salad plates for fresh ones and a large bowl filled with spaghetti and meatballs, a plate of garlic bread fresh from the oven came out as well.

Spinelli shrugged, but looked further impressed by the food. "Some sort of New York high roller approached our table, he seemed to know Maximista and they spoke for a while. I was not introduced to the stranger, but Maxie said she'd been trying and failing to make an appointment to meet with him on behalf of Crimson."

Jason glared into his meal. Chances were, she'd chosen the place because the guy would be there and taking Spinelli along just met the requirements of the test. She'd probably – he certainly wouldn't have been surprised – had it planned that way all along. At least he'd done that part right. His cell phone had been turned off as soon as he got the okay from Spinelli, and he'd left orders with Max and Milo that he was only to be disturbed in the event of some sort of dire emergency. "Hey, you've got my undivided attention." He assured the younger.

"So I've noticed." Spinelli answered, offering a smile.

The rest of the meal continued on with companionable conversation – no mentions of the business, or of Franco, or of Maxie. Eventually, Jason cleared the dishes away and set them aside to deal with later.

"Does this inherently delicious meal come complete with dessert?" Spinelli asked, as Jason went for the freezer.

"Ice cream okay?" He said, pulling out the seldom purchased foodstuffs, followed by whipped cream from the refrigerator and an absurdly ridiculous array of rainbow sprinkles purchased more for their entertainment value than anything else.

"Those are some tremendously colorful toppings you have there, Stone Cold." Spinelli laughed as he grabbed a couple of bowls from the cabinet.

Jason smirked. "I thought you might like them." He said, already armed with the ice cream scooper. Once their sundaes were completed, Jason offered something else surprising. "We can go watch a movie, if you want."

Spinelli had protested the ancient state of the television in the living room – the only one in the penthouse – for quite a while before Jason had given in. Finally, he'd agreed, and they'd gone out and found some LED contraption that Spinelli had claimed had had good reviews. Spinelli had directed the installation of the wall-mounted thing and Jason had been the muscle behind the effort. As of yet, Jason hadn't actually used the thing. Now was as good a time as any, he supposed.

The younger eagerly agreed to the suggestion, and the two headed out to the living room. Jason left the working of the television and the DVD player, as well as the movie selection, up to Spinelli.

He ended up picking an older movie, from a few years back – not that Jason would know, given his general avoidance of television and film – but Spinelli claimed to favor the movie and was interested in sharing it with his Stone Cold mentor. 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang', it was called. And once the opening sequence began, Spinelli settled down on the couch with his ice cream and Jason.

It turned out to be a private detective mystery kind of movie – which is definitely something Spinelli would like, but Maxie probably wouldn't have enjoyed it. Spinelli was thrilled to find that Jason actually seemed to like it, laughing at some of the jokes and banter between the two main characters.

By the time the movie reached its conclusion, Spinelli seemed happier than he had in months. Jason, likewise, had quite enjoyed their time spent together – could definitely get used to it, life without Maxie stealing him away whenever she felt like it.

"This was really quite the entertaining evening, Stone Cold." Spinelli grinned at him.

Jason nodded his agreement. "It was. We'll have to do it again sometime." He promised, mostly to himself – because he'd have to win for that to happen.

The smile on Spinelli's face – yet another thing Jason could get used to seeing – widened at the prospect. "Indeed, that would be most appealing." He motioned toward the stairs. "I think I'm going to turn in, for tonight. I'll take care of the dishes in the morning, if that's okay?"

"Don't worry about them." He assured the younger, already gathering their discarded ice cream bowls. "I've got it, go on."

Spinelli disappeared upstairs without further protest.

Jason headed into the kitchen to deal with the dishes from their shared meal. But, not for the first time since he'd first said it to Maxie, his mind wandered to what it would be like to get Spinelli into bed with him. Ever since the words had left his lips he'd caught himself thinking about it. Of course, now that he and Maxie had started World War Spinelli, she had backed off on the whole cheating thing, which meant that he wouldn't be getting Spinelli to agree to that anytime soon. Not as long as they were together, anyway.

Winning this ridiculous game was becoming a riskier and riskier challenge, the stakes were huge. There was no option but to win.

***

Spinelli was out doing Jackal PI stuff (as McCall was no longer a part of it) when Maxie showed up the next day.

"So," She started, flouncing into the Penthouse like she owned the place. "How much alcohol did you give him?" Spinelli had stopped by her place on his way into the office this morning, and that had been enough to convince her that he'd been drunk out of his skull or something the night before because he'd been in way too good a mood for any other explanation.

"None?" He countered. "He had orange soda, I had beer."

Maxie snorted. "Where'd you take him? Jake's?"

Jason shook his head. "No, I cooked. We stayed in and watched a movie."

She paused, seemed surprised by what his plan had been. "But I said you had to take him out to dinner."

"No, you didn't. You said that we each got a night and whichever one of us impressed him the most would win. You went with over the top stuff and then ignored him half the night."

The blonde frowned. "He told you about that, huh?" Less than pleased, he could tell. "How do we decide who wins this one? I mean, obviously, I think I should. I went for the most expensive place in the state. And you… you went to the grocery store."

"I did what he wanted, though. Not something that would result in a chance encounter with some guy you were trying to contact for Crimson. I know that was no coincidence."

"Maybe you're right on that, maybe you aren't." Maxie huffed at being caught in her own web. "Fine. We tie on this one."

Jason nodded. "Fine."


	4. Challenge 3

Operation: Seduce Spinelli

**_Started writing this a while ago. It's almost finished, but not quite. Much thanks, as always, to suerum. Sorry this chapters is so short, next one is longer, I swear! Characters not mine. Enjoy!_**

* * *

The next opportunity for a challenge took a brief while to organize. Maxie called him in the middle of the night again – and he really was beginning to suspect doing so was part of her less than honorable strategy – to tell him that she had anonymously deposited two tickets to some event that Spinelli had mentioned in the mail. They would arrive sometime tomorrow and they'd both try to end up as the one going with him.

"What's the event?" Jason asked, suspecting further foul play.

"It's a special display on film history at the American Museum of Natural History." She told him, and that really didn't sound bad. At least she'd been fair in her selection. After he and Spinelli had watched that detective movie the other day, it might even provide him with the advantage. "That okay?"

He yawned and nodded, even though she couldn't see before he managed to convince his voice to comply. "Yeah , it's fine."

* * *

Morning came, and with it, the mail. It was Jason who found the tickets amongst the junk and bills, and he offered the envelope over to Spinelli, who was sitting on the couch with his laptop, typing furiously away over the newest bit of intel on Franco's dealings in Paris.

"Hm," Spinelli noted, upon opening the tickets. "Someone has apparently gifted me with two tickets to an exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. While decidedly odd, the Jackal is disinclined to complain."

Feigning ignorance, Jason hummed in interest as well. "What's the exhibit?"

"It's a special showing on the history of cinematography throughout American history." Spinelli explained, and then offered Jason the enclosed brochure for the event. "I had been considering procuring tickets for myself for some time now, but it seems as though I don't actually have to. In fact, I have a spare."

"What're you going to do with the extra one?" The elder inquired directly. While it would be against the rules to out and out request attending with him, he was safe with his line of questioning.

"The Young Scholarly One and I were speaking fondly of this exhibit just the other day at Kelly's. If I had purchased the tickets, I would certainly have obtained one for her, as well." Spinelli informed him.

Running through his mental list of Spinelli's nicknames, Jason surmised that he was speaking of Molly. "I'm sure she'd like that. She loves hanging out with you." Jason said with a grin. Maxie was not going to be happy upon learning of this.

* * *

Maxie called him in the afternoon, with the explanation that Spinelli was out on a stakeout so it was safe for them to talk. "The tickets came today, right?"

"They did, but neither of us will be going to it with him." He informed her matter-of-factly. "He already had plans to take Molly to the exhibit."

There was a distinct thumping noise in the background. If Jason had heard correctly, she had just stomped her foot in her irritation at the news, not unlike a child would. She had the maturity of one anyway, Jason reasoned. "Did you try to talk him out of that?"

He shrugged. "No. If he wants to hang out with Molly, doing something neither of us have any vested interest in - other than through Spinelli - we should let him."

"Fine. New challenge then." Maxie scoffed in disapproval at having to move ahead without claiming the point for the museum exhibit she would have undoubtedly been attending. "I'll call you later."

"I'm sure you will."


End file.
